Sentences of a paragraph are given below in jumbled order. Arrange the…

Concept

A paragraph-rearrangement (para jumble) task is solved by locating each sentence's discourse marker — words such as 'to begin with', 'as a result of', and 'on the other hand' — and identifying exactly which sentence each marker needs immediately before it. A contrast marker such as 'on the other hand' is the strongest such constraint: the sentence right before it must state the specific opposing idea, and any offered sequence that fails to place that idea directly before the contrast marker cannot be the answer.

Application

1. Sentence S opens with 'On the other hand, effective leaders inspire their teams to achieve greater levels of success and satisfaction' — a positive outcome. For this contrast to hold, the sentence immediately before S must state the opposing, negative outcome.

2. Sentence R states that negative outcome directly: 'As a result of poor leadership, organisations often lose their direction and momentum.' R is therefore the sentence that must sit immediately before S.

3. Checking each offered sequence for this R-then-S adjacency: SPQR (S,P,Q,R) and RQSP (R,Q,S,P) place something other than R directly before S (or place S first with nothing before it), and PSQR (P,S,Q,R) places S directly after P. Only QPRS (Q,P,R,S) puts R immediately before S.

4. With the R-S pair fixed at the end, Q and P fill the first two slots: Q ('To begin with, leadership involves guiding teams, making decisions, and fostering innovation') opens the paragraph, introducing what leadership entails, and P ('The role of leadership in any organisation cannot be overstated') follows as a summarising remark on that description — giving the order Q, P, R, S.

Cross-check

Reading the paragraph straight through in this order — Q, P, R, S — produces one continuous idea: what leadership involves, why that role matters, what happens when leadership is poor, and — in contrast — what happens when leadership is effective. The contrast marker in S lands directly on its negative counterpart in R, which confirms the sequence; no other offered arrangement satisfies this adjacency.

Why the other sequences don't hold together

• SPQR opens the paragraph with S itself, so 'on the other hand' has no preceding sentence at all to contrast against.

• PSQR places S directly after P, a general statement about leadership's importance, not after any sentence describing a negative outcome for it to contrast with.

• RQSP places S directly after Q, which describes what leadership involves, again leaving 'on the other hand' without a negative counterpart directly before it.